ABC's 'Path' Not Taken

The Washington Post ^ | September 13, 2006 | Ruth Marcus

[John Carey]

Does it matter that ABC invented and distorted history in its "warning: this is not a documentary" docudrama, "The Path to 9/11"? After all, the first night of the faux drama was trounced by the brother-against-brother actual drama of "Sunday Night Football."

But consider: The gripping final report of the Sept. 11 commission (budget: $13.5 million) became a surprise bestseller at 1.5 million copies. The not-so-gripping, not-so-accurate ABC production (budget: $40 million) was seen by about 13 million viewers on the first night.

As Thomas H. Kean, who served as the commission's chairman and then made the unfortunate decision to lend his prestige to the project as co-executive producer, correctly predicted this summer, "More people will see this than will ever read our report." Such is the drawing power of even shoddy television.

ABC's response to the pre-screening uproar was twofold -- both folds simultaneously inadequate and disingenuous. First, it removed the most flagrantly dishonest scenes: Bill Clinton's national security adviser Sandy Berger slamming down the phone on a fictional CIA operative pleading for permission to attack Osama bin Laden in the spring of 1998; White House counterterrorism czar Richard Clarke suggesting that the Monica Lewinsky scandal and the looming impeachment had sapped the president's willingness to "take chances" on getting the terrorist leader. Yet, these and other misleading insinuations remain, in subtler form.

[LibLieSlayer]

Dead-on post of the day!!!! Thanks for your sage words of truth!!!

LLS

[FreePoster]

The great thing about this show is that it tells the story that ties all of these names and events together. I don't think that context has really been given outside of books. The claims of it being fictional are going to be hard to sell to people who watched it and recalled the various things happening. They just put all of these well-known facts together in a way that makes it understandable. What's most shameful about the Clinton-party attacks on this movie is that, regardless of the composite characters and such, it is a great history lesson that everyone should get. Everyone should understand what led up to 9/11.

Thanks to redstate.com that they posted the original Sandy Burglar scene of Osama Bin Laden not being captured. The abbreviated version that aired just doesn't give you time to appreciate the situation. ABC should start taking pre-orders of the director's cut DVD.

[John Carey]

LibLieSlayer and other FReepers:

We hope you find the essay below of interest....

Complaining About ¡°Path to 9/11¡å Increases Interest in the Film

By John E. Carey

¡°The lady doth protest too much, methinks.¡±
¨CFrom Hamlet (III, ii, 239)

The vocal reaction of key former Clinton Administration government officials will likely be forgotten long before the memories fade of the Disney/ABC made for TV ¡°docu-drama¡± ¡°Path to 9/11.¡±

In fact, there is some strong possibility that the furor kicked up by dignitaries such as former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and former National Security Advisor Samuel ¡°Sandy¡± Berger will only increase interest in the 9/11 controversy.

My own reaction is similar to that of many we¡¯ve spoken to. NOW I want to see that movie and find out why these guys are so up in arms. When video sales start, this film will likely be a hot commodity.

The controversy itself is simple. How could the United States be so completely surprised and taken unaware by the terror attacks of September 11, 2001?

Trouble warnings were plentiful. In fact, in the decade before 2001 attacks on the United States and U.S. assets abroad were becoming more common.

And warnings about Osama bin Laden were plentiful and understood by many within the U.S. government. An August, 2005 press release from Judicial Watch, the public interest group that investigates and prosecutes government corruption, released two declassified ¡°Top Secret¡± State Department documents that warned Clinton administration officials of the activities and influence of Osama bin Laden following his alleged ¡°expulsion¡± from Sudan in May 1996.

One declassified and released document, dated July 18, 1996, asked the provocative question: ¡°Terrorism/Usama bin Ladin: Who¡¯s Chasing Whom.¡±

¡°Path to 9/11¡± depicts the ¡°Millennium Bomber¡± incident in 1999. When al-Qaida operative Ahmed Ressam arrived by ferry from Canada in December of 1999, he was quickly arrested with a trunk full of explosives. His plan: to blow up Los Angeles International Airport.

But the arrest was somewhat in spite of warnings from Washington DC instead of because of government alerts. The customs agent that made the arrest told NBC News it was her gut instincts ¡ª not meetings in Washington ¡ª that helped her make the correct assessment of the terrorist and arrest him.The customs agent, Diana Dean, said no one had told her anything about being on alert for terrorists.

¡°I don¡¯t recall any specific threats,¡± she added. ¡°I don¡¯t recall anybody saying watch for terrorists.¡±

Customs officials confirm that no alert had gone out to the field.

NBC News closed a segment recapping the ¡°Millennium Bomber¡± incident and customs agent Dean in April 2004 with the line: ¡°As for Dean, she received an award and today shrugs off revisionist history in Washington, noting that success has many fathers.¡±

It is that propensity for ¡°revisionist history¡± by the former Clinton Administration crowd that is ringing alarm bells in Washington DC and across the nation today.

Add to the ¡°Millennium Bomber¡± incident a string of successful attacks that were not prevented.

A few of the events that probably should have prompted a more aggressive U.S. counter-terrorist effort included: the first World Trade center bombing (February 1993) [also depicted in ¡°Path to 9/11¡±], the discovery of the Lincoln and Holland tunnel plots (Spring 1993), the car bombing of the U.S. military headquarters of the United States in Saudi Arabia (November 1995), the truck bombing of the U.S. military housing facility at Khobar Towers, Saudi Arabia (June 1996), the truck bombings at U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania (August 1998), and the bombing of USS Cole in Aden, Yemen (October 2000).

Add to these terror incidents, incidents that basically yielded little or no U.S. response, the inability of the U.S. intelligence apparatus to correlate these incidents to produce a coherent picture of the threat to America.

Finally we have the bizarre incident of Sandy Burger at the National Archives. ¡°Sources have told The Washington Post, and other news organizations, that Berger was witnessed stuffing papers into his clothing,¡± Post reporters John F. Harris and Susan Schmidt wrote in that paper on Thursday, July 22, 2004.

A seasoned Washington DC lawyer told me yesterday, ¡°If I was representing these guys from the Clinton Administration, I¡¯d remind them pretty strongly on their right to remain silent. All their protests about the Disney 9/11 movie make them look guilty as sin.¡±

He could have read my mind.

http://peace-and-freedom.blogspot.com/

[Cheburashka]

Umm...How is this exactly dishonest? IIRC, in Lt. Col. Patterson's fine book "Dereliction of Duty: The Eyewitness Account of How Bill Clinton Compromised America's National Security" this actually happened (maybe not in that exact way, but the opportunity to squish UBL was rejected). So, I guess Ruth's calling more people liars than the writers of "The Path to 9/11."
---
The hangup scene was an ad lib by the actor, not part of the script. And it should have been cut - it makes it look like Sandy the Burgler is the problem when it is Bill Clinton's refusal to take responsibility for the takedown of Bin Ladin that is the problem. Bubba talked about making tough choices, but he didn't to actually MAKE them - might hurt the legacy, don't you know.

Burgler shouldn't have been National Security Adviser, but Clinton gave him the job. I know of no reason to believe Burgler didn't WANT to do a good job, so accept that. And then trash him for failing, not for not trying.

[srmorton]

I am reminded of what Rush has said many times. To answer some of the more ridiculous accusations just gives them a credibility they do not deserve, not to mention the fact that it gives them more publicity.

[SR 50]

ping

[LibLieSlayer]

Thanks John.

LLS

[Caipirabob]

Even if ABC isn't happy about the ROI with 13 million viewers, with all the free DNC hype before and after, they could run it again. If they promote it properly, they could generate the same shill screeching from the DNC and probably get similar numbers.

[jazzlite]

..."What, in particular, was "sloppy?"...

I thought this film was powerful and disturbing..The central message I got from watching it is not comforting to me but is something I have known for many years..It is that the bureaucracies of American government and the anti-American nature of liberals is paralyzing us. The scene in the movie where the bomb experts experienced angst about removing a piece of medal with a crucial registration number on it from the site where a van blew up the trade center in 1993 because the FBI or CIA had a rule that no evidence could be removed was very revealing concerning the insanity which paralyzes us. Never mind that in minutes that evidence would be lost as a crane, I think, was coming through to disturb that location. That piece of evidence turned out to be extremely important. The professional investigators made the tough decision to remove it anyway and it was key in making a later arrest.
It is comforting that sometimes people will run the risk of using common sense.

[Screamname]

Just curious if they ever included the TRUE scene of Clinton never visiting the WTC after the first bombing but instead going to NYC for, whatelse, a fundraiser. That says it all about Clintons regards to terror during his 8 years. It was always "me me me".

[SkyPilot]

What War on Christmas? - by Ruth Marcus

[metesky]

A film gets locked into their minds a lot harder than a newspaper account.

[raybbr]

Damn liberal scum. I wish there was a sway to seperate them from us and let the wahabis have at them.

[excalibur1701]

I'm sure Ruth Marcus's review of any of the Michael Moores "documentaries" were done with as much enthusiasm.

[Matchett-PI]

bttt

[Always Right]

Does it matter that ABC invented and distorted history....

The movie was more accurate than the typical nightly news casts or newspaper. Certainly 100 times more accurate than anything Micheal Moore ever put out.

[Beckwith]

Why do these women defend Clinton?

Liberal women must have the same mindset as muslim women.

[ilgipper]

1.5 million vs. 13 million. Seems like a pretty successful outing. They gamined 10X the audience as the book. Yet the MSM poo-poos it as a failure because more people tuned into football.

[Vinnie]

Umm...How is this exactly dishonest? IIRC, in Lt. Col. Patterson's fine book "Dereliction of Duty: The Eyewitness Account of How Bill Clinton Compromised America's National Security" this actually happened (maybe not in that exact way, but the opportunity to squish UBL was rejected)

The portrayal was wrong.

The actual telephone was green, not black.

Can't believe anything in the miniseries after a gaff that serious doncha know. :)

On a more serious note, I thought the series glossed over a few important facts. IE,
'The Wall'. I don't recall any mention of who and when 'the wall' was instituted.

[msg-84]

First, it removed the most flagrantly dishonest scenes: Bill Clinton's national security adviser Sandy Berger slamming down the phone on a fictional CIA operative pleading for permission to attack Osama bin Laden in the spring of 1998

He is real, and he has a face and a name: "Michael Scheuer, a 22-year veteran of the CIA that used to head up “Alec Station,” the Counterterrorist Center’s Osama bin Laden unit."

You can read about hime on pages 110 through 115 of the 9/11 Commission report in the section, subtitled “The CIA Develops a Capture Plan,” the commissioners chronicled a 1997 – 1998 strategy to capture or kill bin Laden in Afghanistan:

A compound of about 80 concrete or mud-brick buildings surrounded by a 10-foot wall, Tarnak Farms was located in an isolated desert area on the outskirts of the Kandahar airport. CIA officers were able to map the entire site, identifying the houses that belonged to Bin Ladin’s wives and one where Bin Ladin himself was most likely to sleep. Working with the tribals, they drew up plans for the raid. They ran two complete rehearsals in the United States during the fall of 1997. By early 1998, planners at the Counterterrorist Center were ready to come back to the White House to seek formal approval.